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Teen to be tried as adult in 2 homicides in July

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoChris Russell | DispatchDevonere Simmonds listens as a Franklin County assistant prosecutor describes the July crimes he is accused of committing. Seated with Simmonds is his mother, Maya Foster.

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Devonere Simmonds smiled yesterday as an assistant Franklin County prosecutor described two
homicides and one attempted killing that the 17-year-old is accused of committing during a July
crime rampage.

Minutes earlier, Simmonds conceded that prosecutors had enough evidence to establish that he
probably was responsible for the crimes, which include the fatal shooting of a South Side
convenience-store clerk and the near-fatal shooting of a man at a Madison County truck stop.

By agreeing to what is known as probable cause, Simmonds left Juvenile Court Judge Kim A. Brown
no choice but to send his case to adult court. Juvenile court judges in Ohio are required to order
such transfers if they find probable cause that a defendant committed a murder or attempted murder
when he or she was 16 or 17.

Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said he expects a grand jury to indict Simmonds by the end of the week on
aggravated-murder charges in two deaths.

If convicted of the charges in adult court, Simmonds could be sentenced to life in prison with
no chance of parole. The U.S. Supreme Court has banned the death penalty for defendants who commit
crimes as juveniles.

Brown set bail at $3 million.

Defense attorney Jo Kaiser said she decided it was best for her client to admit to probable
cause rather than require the prosecutors to present detailed testimony against him at the
hearing.

She said the smile on Simmonds’ face “had nothing to do with the courtroom proceedings. It was
in no way a reflection on what he was feeling about the people involved in the case. He was so
tense, so upset before the hearing.”

She said Simmonds’ mother, Maya Foster, seated beside him during the hearing, asked him
afterward why he was smiling. “He didn’t even realize that he was,” Kaiser said.

Simmonds, formerly of Siebert Street on the South Side, was charged last summer with delinquency
counts of murder in the deaths of:

• Quinten Ellis-John Prater, 22, shot in a vacant house on Lilley Avenue on July 21.

• Imran Ashgar, 34, a clerk shot at the Convenient Plus Food Mart on E. Livingston Avenue on
July 24.

• Lamont Frazier, 17, shot on a sidewalk at Oakwood Avenue and Forest Street on July 25.

The murder charge in the Frazier case was dropped by prosecutors yesterday but could be
reinstated if investigators obtain more evidence, O’Brien said.

Simmonds also is charged with a delinquency count of attempted murder in the shooting of William
Joseph Rudd, 39, during a carjacking at a truck stop at I-70 and Rt. 42 on July 27. That case also
will be presented to the grand jury.

Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Clark said investigators think Prater was shot “during a drug
transaction,” Ashgar died during a robbery and Rudd was shot so Simmonds and an accomplice could
steal his car.

Simmonds was one of three defendants accused of playing a role in the crimes.

Nathaniel L. Brunner, 18, is charged with aggravated murder in Ashgar’s death and attempted
murder in the shooting of Rudd.

Darrel Durham, 19, pleaded guilty last month to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery
in Ashgar’s death. He has agreed to testify against Simmonds and Brunner if necessary.

Durham, who was not implicated in the other crimes, was sentenced to 15 years in prison as part
of the plea agreement.